


The Favorable Boyfriend

by melliejellie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feelings Realization, Fluff, M/M, Wedding date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melliejellie/pseuds/melliejellie
Summary: Tsukishima needs a favor. To get his extended family off his back about the various women they want him to meet, he needs to bring a "boyfriend" to the next family wedding he has to attend. Who better to ask than his close friend Akaashi?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 43
Kudos: 134





	The Favorable Boyfriend

The sun is setting, his dishes are clean, there’s a stack of forgotten textbooks demanding to be read, and Tsukishima’s staring at yet another wedding invitation, pen in hand, hovering just above the line where he’d write a “no” to say that, yet again, he is coming alone.

It’s not that he hates being single. Tsukishima is more than comfortable being alone. No, it’s the fact that at the last two family weddings he had to endure hours of that infuriating “just a phase” mentality as everyone in his extended family tried to make him sit next to or dance with every eligible woman in attendance.

If he wasn’t single, he could bring a boyfriend and put a nail in the coffin of his extended family’s expectations for his life. God, that would be so satisfying.

The wedding’s in a few months. Tsukishima chews on his lip and taps the other end of the pen against his desktop.

He makes a decision. He writes a “yes” on the +1 line, slips the RSVP into the tiny, elegant envelope, and seals it. There’s no telling what the next few months will hold, after all.

He’s just starting to regret his choice and wondering how easy it would be to reopen the envelope and change his response, when an incoming text message breaks his train of thought.

**Akaashi [06:31]:** Want to meet at the library? I can’t focus without someone silently judging me for not studying harder.

Tsukishima puffs out a soft laugh and replies.

**[6:31]:** Glad to be of service. See you in 20.

  
  


***

Weeks later, Tsukishima is less optimistic and still very single. He can write it off as being busy in his second year of college, but he knows that it’s really because he can’t seem to put any effort into meeting new people. He has his own small group of friends from his major, he has Yamaguchi, and just two stops away on the subway line, he has Akaashi, too.

They’re not attending the same university. They’re not even in the same major. But ever since that second summer camp, when Akaashi was captain and Tsukishima had to finally admit that he cared about improving, he found he liked being in Akaashi’s company. He’s quiet, clever, and amusingly weird just below the surface.

“Good morning,” Tsukishima nods as he enters the coffee shop where they meet every Tuesday and Thursday. The cafe opens at 7:00. One of them is always there by 8:00. Today Tsukishima’s a little later than he planned because he worked out some stress on his morning run and ended up adding an extra mile to his normal route.

“Morning,” Akaashi looks up from his laptop with a smile. He’s sitting at their usual table, tucked in the front corner by the window with all the plants. The whole place looks like it’s been plucked out of a fairytale cottage. At first Tsukishima couldn’t admit that he liked it, but the coffee was very good and Akaashi seemed to like the place. He likes the seat right in the corner where two wood-paneled walls meet.

Tsukishima’s order is sitting on the table waiting for him.

“Thanks,” he says, taking his seat across from him and wrapping his hands around the wide, bright white mug and letting the warmth spread through his cold fingers.

“It’s nothing. I know you’ll get the next one,” Akaashi replies. And he’s right. It’s been months since they stopped keeping track of who bought coffee. “I did have them add cinnamon, though. It’s chilly this morning. Thought you might like the addition.”

Tsukishima lifts the mug off the small plate and breathes it in, humming with appreciation. “Good choice.”

Akaashi lifts his own half-empty mug in a subtle gesture of “cheers” before he sends another small smile Tsukishima’s way and gets back to his work.

Tsukishima carefully pulls out each of the textbooks he’s dragged with him today and his binder with neat, color-coded tabs. His laptop is in there, too, but he still prefers taking notes by hand.

It’s an easy and comfortable routine. They occasionally meet up at other places throughout the week, for a library study session or a late dinner, but mornings at the cottage cafe are never skipped unless one of them is too sick to make it. Even when they’re on holiday after exams, they still meet up to chat or sit in companionable silence.

This morning is the same. Tsukishima sips his coffee while he highlights in his textbook and jots down notes. Akaashi finishes his first mug and orders another, also picking up two croissants for them to nibble on as they work.

Usually they’re focused, but sometimes they chat. With anyone else, it’d be irritating, but when Akaashi breaks his concentration, he finds he doesn’t care. It’s the soft way he starts the conversation, he tells himself. Akaashi’s voice slips into his consciousness and steals his attention gently, invitingly.

“So yesterday I was thinking,” Akaashi starts and pauses, patiently waiting for Tsukishima’s attention.

Tsukishima glances up from his textbook, eager to look at anything else for a few moments, and rests his head on his open palm. “About what?”

A sly grin crosses Akaashi’s lips, “about that time you and I snuck out of training camp to drink those beers my cousin bought me.”

Tsukishima laughs quietly and it fades into an embarrassed groan. “What on earth made you think of that?”

Akaashi shrugs. “Hard to recall what makes certain memories pop back up, isn’t it? Bokuto has been taking trips down memory lane though, lately, and sending me old Fukurodani pictures.”

“You were such a bad influence,” Tsukishima smirks.

“You joined me willingly. With enthusiasm, I might add.”

“Anyone would be driven to drink after being with Hinata all day.”

Akaashi grins and leans back in his chair. “That was a fun night.”

“It was,” Tsukishima agrees, his own memories rushing back in. The sound of cicadas and the trickle of the creek behind the school where they were staying. The smell of cheap, lukewarm beer and fresh-cut grass. The loose feeling of letting go and laughing with Akaashi until tears formed in the corners of his eyes. The welcome vulnerability of two new friends sharing thoughts that feel important, secrets about themselves that could only be said when they were alone and surrounded only by moonlight and the rustling of trees.

“My third summer was rough without that escape,” he adds before sharing a story about Hinata and Kageyama that Akaashi’s heard several times by now, but he still follows along and snickers at all the best parts.

And there’s something about the word “escape” that sets off a series of thoughts that run in the back of his mind as he talks.

When he pauses, the idea takes shape. Being around Akaashi is always a nice escape from the hectic parts of his day. Maybe that’s his answer.

“Akaashi, I have a favor to ask.”

The other man’s eyes glance over at him from over the top of his wide mug. He raises his eyebrows, interested.

“It’s kind of big. And odd.”

“Now you’ve got my attention.” Akaashi sets down his mug and settles his chin on his intertwined hands.

“You up for a visit to Miyagi?”

“Oh, what for?”

Tsukishima sighs heavily. “One of my cousins is getting married and if I have to go to another family wedding alone and listen to my extended family tell me about single girls they know or try to force me to dance with someone’s friend of a friend, I’ll lose it.”

Akaashi laughs. “When? Getting out of the city doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world.”

“Not for a few more weeks but, and this is the odd part,” Tsukishima scrunches up his face, “to keep my family at bay I’d need us to pretend to be together. Like a couple.”

Tsukishima tenses, unsure of how Akaashi’s going to respond as he watches his expression subtly shift.

“Free food, a visit to Miyagi in the spring, and a little intrigue added into the mix? Sounds lovely.”

The matter settled, Tsukishima doesn’t give it another thought.

***

Except.

He does.

Because it’s not just the shared coffees and late-night, too-salty ramen to soothe their stressed student souls. There’s also Akaashi’s encouraging texts right before Tsukishima takes an exam, because he knows Tsukishima’s schedule and, strangely, he knows Akaashi’s, too. He’ll send a message or two when he knows Akaashi’s in the thick of paper writing and might need a laugh.

He does the same for Yamaguchi, but this is different.

He certainly has plenty of nights at Yamaguchi’s where they eat too much takeout and watch bad movies, but Yamaguchi doesn’t show up mid-week at his doorstep with some soup because “you sounded a little sick on the phone.”

He can’t place his finger exactly on why his friendship with Akaashi is different, and decides it’s just a matter of personality. Yamaguchi and Akaashi are different people, after all, so it makes sense that they’re different types of friends. It just makes sense. He considers it solved.

***

Until one morning, at the cafe, Akaashi suggests, “we should buy our tickets soon, yeah?”

Tsukishima glances up from his textbook. “Probably. It’s in a few weeks. I’ll buy them this evening.”

Akaashi’s tone is sharp and it makes Tsukishima lock eyes with him across the table. “Both? Absolutely not. That’s too much.”

Tsukishima shakes his head, resolute. “I’m buying yours. It’s the least I can do to repay you for sacrificing a whole weekend to come with me.”

Akaashi waves a dismissive hand. “Hardly sacrificing. I’m happy to get out of Tokyo together.” He says the last bit with a smile, the kind that crinkles his nose.

They settle on Akaashi paying for half of his ticket and Tsukishima paying for the rest.

As he buys them later that night, he keeps remembering the way Akaashi looked when he said the word “together.”

***

The morning of the wedding, Tsukishima arrives at the train station to find that, naturally, Akaashi has beat him there. As he catches sight of Tsukishima, he grins sleepily and holds out a book towards him. Tsukishima recognizes it immediately.

“I didn’t realize it was out already,” he says, taking the book and flipping it over in his hands. It’s the third book in a series he’s been reading for years. So much time passes between releases that he forgets to stay up to date. Apparently, Akaashi didn’t.

“Figured you might enjoy something new to read on the train because I,” he fishes in his shoulder bag, bringing out a book of his own, “have a new book I’ve been dying to start and I was afraid I wouldn’t be very good company.”

In reality, he’s perfect company. A few chapters in to his own book, Tsukishima again remarks on how this is a different kind of friendship. With Yamaguchi they’d probably talk the whole way. There’s a side of him, the “still a little kid somewhere in there” side that comes out around his best friend. Around Akaashi, though, he’s who he is now. Just calmer. Less stressed and ready to throw his textbooks and laptop off his balcony.

He hums contentedly at the thought and Akaashi glances over, eyebrow raised.

“Just a good part,” he says, nodding towards the book.

About half an hour outside of Sendai, where they’ll have to change trains, Akaashi closes his own book, slipping a proper bookmark between the pages, and asks, “so, who in your family should I look forward to meeting today? Any characters?”

Tsukishima sticks a bit of a receipt to mark his place and he rolls his eyes, ready to give Akaashi every excruciating detail about his extended family.

It makes him feel better about the whole ordeal when Akaashi laughs so hard he has to wipe tears from his eyes.

Bringing him was a good idea.

It continues to be a good idea as Akaashi spots a little bakery tucked between the other shops at the train station offering more regular, salty fare. Over sandwiches made with freshly baked bread, they go over the details.

“So what’s our story?” Akaashi asks, a lingering crumb stuck at the corner of his mouth.

Tsukishima has the thought of reaching over and swiping his thumb across it, but holds himself back. “Oh yeah,” he laughs weaky, “I guess we should have talked about that before.”

“Usually you’re quite the planner. I was surprised you overlooked it but didn’t want to bring it up in case,” his voice trails off.

“In case what?” Tsukishima asks.

“Nothing,” Akaashi grins, “lost my train of thought.”

Through sandwiches, tea, and an after lunch dessert, they decide on the details. Fake details. They obviously met originally at the summer training camp. They became closer friends at the next year’s camp. Tsukishima started attending college nearby and they could spend time together again.

All of that was already true to life. Easy enough.

“How’d we switch from friends to more?” Akaashi asks, his gaze dropping to the table.

It happened naturally over time. A lot of little things adding up until an event brought them closer. Helping one another. Maybe a surprise. Tsukishima knew Akaashi was stressed about finals last semester and brought him dinner. A regular night until they stayed up talking, finals nearly forgotten. A kiss on Akaashi’s small balcony with more kisses and dates to follow. That was four - no six - months ago. And Tsukishima’s only telling them now because he was nervous. Their dating life is low-key. They watch movies together. Study together. They’re both focusing on school, but they make time for one another.

There’s so many things they already do as part of the story that it’ll be easy to remember.

And if Tsukishima’s heart is fluttering, it’s at the anticipation of lying to his family members, not anything else.

***

From the moment they reach the hotel, they’re busy, swallowed by the whirlwind of his mother in full helpful-aunt-at-a-wedding mode. She gushes over the “nice boy” her son brought with him and admonishes him for not introducing them sooner. Akiteru’s stunned, pouting that “you never tell me anything!” His father doesn’t say much, short with his words like Tsukishima can be, but asks Akaashi about his courses in college and about his family.

The whole time his family lightly grills the “new boyfriend” for details, Tsukishima shifts uncomfortably on his feet, rocking on his heels. Akaashi gently stills him with a hand on his back. It’s a smart move, Tsukishima knows, for the appearance of the lie, but it’s oddly calming.

Still, he’s grateful when his mother ushers them to their rooms for the evening. “Separate rooms,” she points a finger at her son. “You’ll be rooming with your brother. Akaashi-kun will have a room for himself. On a different floor.” She raises an eyebrow and Tsukishima suddenly feels about ten years younger under his mother’s gaze as he nods quickly, heat rising to his cheeks at his mother’s insinuation.

They part a few minutes later, each to go to their own rooms to unpack and get dressed. Tsukishima’s glad Akiteru has to attend to other tasks he’s been roped into because needs a minute to himself.

What his mother was thinking left his cheeks hot with embarrassment, but even more mortifying were the imaginative thoughts it brought to his mind.

He knows Akaashi is objectively attractive. He has pleasing features. A good smile. Hair that is always right on the line between messy and neat. Nice eyes.

But everyone notices those things. Right?

Only now that he’s getting ready alone in his room, he can’t stop noticing. He buttons his dress shirt and thinks about Akaashi’s face first thing in the morning at the cafe, how he’s awake but only just, his sleepy gaze and everything else about him just a little softer than usual. He slips into his slacks and remembers how happy he felt when Akaashi showed up at his door with food that night he was stressed and trying to hammer out a paper.

The way Akaashi’s eyes crinkle in the corners when he smiles.

The way he covers his mouth with his hand when he laughs really hard.

The way he looks in his glasses at night after he takes out his contacts.

That one summer night, a fond memory of the way Akaashi looks with a warm blush across his cheeks.

He’s running his fingers through his hair, trying to make it do what he wants, when he stops. His heart starts racing as he looks himself in the eye and he knows.

And all he can think is, “now what?”

He’s quick to tuck the dangerous thought away, focusing on making it through the evening with this newfound realization trying to force itself into his every thought. And he’s fairly successful. A pro at putting his emotions away in a box to deal with later. Or never.

Until he sees Akaashi all dressed up in the hallway outside of his room, waiting for him.

And Akaashi starts talking, saying something about his uncomfortable shoes, but all Tsukishima can think about is the soft lines of his lips and what they might feel like pressed against his own. His hands are clammy and he can feel sweat on the small of his back. Then Akaashi is reaching for his hand and saying something.

“What?” Tsukishima asks, trying to focus on what those lips are saying, not what he might, maybe want to do with them.

“For appearances,” he says and slips his hand inside Tsukishima’s clammy one. He grins as they start to work, shooting Tsukishhima a side glance, “you don’t have to be nervous. We got our stories down.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”

***

Throughout the entire ceremony, Tsukishima’s traitorous brain decides to focus solely on the memory of that second summer camp, that night they snuck out together. He remembers laughing so freely, how he felt warm and fuzzy from more than just the few cheap beers.

For so long his only good friend was Yamaguchi. When he made another, when he met someone else who understood him, he expected it to feel new.

But Akaashi makes him feel well and truly different.

He makes him feel wonderful. Like a good friend, but more. Being around Akaashi fills his pessimistic brain with optimism. Akaashi is like the tranquil center of the storm that is adjusting to the changes in his life.

He makes it through the ceremony by managing to stuff these unwelcome new ideas back into the locked box inside his brain, but the reception is another hurdle entirely.

Akaashi talks to his family members so easily, casually recalling things they’ve done over the past few years together as if they’re parts of their romantic backstory and not just two friends hanging out. He shares about college and, though he never says too much at once, always careful with his words, he charms the whole table of Tsukishima’s extended family.

Tsukishima, on the other hand, is more awkward than normal. His cadence is choppy, unnatural.

Halfway through dinner, Akaashi squeezes his hand under the table and leans over to whisper, “you okay?”

“Fine, just hot in this suit,” he lies.

“I agree, you clean up nicely,” Akaashi whispers back quickly, then he’s talking to Akiteru about living in Tokyo and Tsukishima is left wondering if that just happened.

When Akaashi excuses himself to go to the bathroom, Akiteru scoots over one to take his seat and claps his brother on the shoulder. “Holy crap, you really do like him, don’t you? I’m so shocked.”

“Why?” Tsukishima snaps with a sneer, but his heart is pounding.

Akiteru ignores him. “My baby brother is all grown up,” he says dramatically before turning and looking him in the eye. “No, but really, I’m amazed. I’ve never seen you look at anyone like that before. It’s nice.”

Tsukishima can feel the heat rising up from his chest, threatening to spill onto his cheeks. Curse his pale skin.

“You’re so cute,” he lightly pinches at Tsukishima’s cheek like he’s a toddler.

“Cut it out, Aki,” he shoves him a little and his brother laughs.

He’s still red and warm when Akaashi gets back, but he doesn’t claim his seat. He leans over to whisper, his breath tickling his ear, “People are dancing. Want to sell this thing for real?”

Tsukishima quickly shakes his head. That’s definitely not something he can handle. Not until he gets his emotions in check. His rational brain has been offline for hours now. Dancing is out of the question.

But Akaashi pushes, “nothing says ‘don’t set me up with your friend’ like a nice slow dance with your ‘boyfriend,’ right?”

And before he knows it, he’s out on the makeshift dancefloor with Akaashi holding both of his hands, guiding one behind his waist, “Do you know how to dance at all?”

“Absolutely not.”

Akaashi laughs softly, his eyes crinkling in the corners like they do and oh, he feels so ridiculously light on his feet, his head spinning. When Akaashi says, “then I’ll lead,” all he can do is think that he’d let Akaashi lead him anywhere.

He has no idea what to do with his hands or legs, wouldn’t even if his head was clear, but it’s alright because Akaashi’s there, guiding him - literally - each step of the way. He still trips over his own feet constantly, even steps on Akaashi a few times, apologizing quickly.

Akaashi just smiles and helps him try again until they find a gentle rhythm. It’s not perfect, but it’s nice. For a moment he gives in and lets himself enjoy it. He doesn’t know what to do with everything bubbling up inside him, and he understands even less about how to go about talking to a friend about this, maybe, one day, if he can muster the confidence.

“The tips of your ears are red,” Akaashi says. “They only do that when you’re nervous.”

“I’m not nervous.” His thought start racing again. His breath catches in his throat and he knows he’s staring and his feet have stopped moving, but he’s frozen with Akaashi looking at him like that, like he can read his thoughts. And he knows that’s impossible, but Akaashi understands him so well already anway, maybe it isn’t impossible and maybe-

“Your ears say otherwise,” Akaashi smirks, “what are you nervous about?”

“You,” he blurts and he immediately regrets it. All the worst case scenarios start flooding his mind and he hopes, at best, that Akaashi didn’t hear him.

But his face proves he did. Only that smirk is still there and he asks, “why am I making you nervous?” And he threads his fingers though one of Tsukishima’s hands and lets his other hand fall to his back, like he’s holding him steady.

And somehow, even though Akaashi is the one making his head spin, it works. He takes a deep breath and smiles back. He knows the room is full of people but it’s grown quiet in his head and he doesn’t even need to gather courage like he thought he would, because when he looks at him, he as all the courage he needs.

“Because I like you,” he says simply and he waits a beat, staring into his eyes before he adds, “but you’re my friend and I won’t say anything else about it.”

He watches as a faint blush creeps over the bridge of Akaashi’s nose, spilling onto his cheeks. He’s gorgeous. And not pulling away.

“Say something else.”

“What?”

“Say something else about it right now,” Akaashi repeats, a strange edge in his voice.

It takes him a moment to get what Akaashi means, a moment to realize that the unshakable Akaashi is flustered, too and his heart soars.

“You’re making me nervous because all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you right now.”

Akaashi’s eyes flutter clothes and he breathes out, “oh thank god.”

That wasn’t what Tsukishima expected. He laughs softly and Akaashi looks up at him a smile on his lips and a glint in his eye.

Akaashi curls his fingers around Tsukishima’s hands and parts his lips to speak, “Because I like you, too, but when I realized it I couldn’t say a word. I let my nerves get the better of me every time. And Tsukki, I’ve tried. I think about saying it when I see you in the morning and you still have bedhead. I think about telling you when you bring me food when I don’t feel well. I’ve made plans to tell you, but I can’t do it. And now you’ve done it, and-” he cuts himself off, catching his breath.

“And now we should step outside.”

“Why?” Akaashi looks at him, eyes wide, hopeful.

“Because I will not kiss you in front of my entire family.”

***

Outside, the night air greets them with the earth scents of spring, a hint of fresh rain still hanging in the air.

With the party and open confessions behind them, they both grow suddenly shy and stand next to one another on the balcony, neither one able to steal a glance or say a word.

It’s Akaashi who eventually breaks the silence first. He laughs, covering his mouth as he does, and it makes Tsukishima laugh, too. The sounds fade and they’re enveloped in silence again.

Tsukishima knows that he’s going to have to move his body. He’s going to have to remember how to use his neck and turn his head so he can kiss Akaashi like he wants to. Robotically, he moves through the motions.

And bumps his nose against Akaashi because he, apparently, decided to be brave at the exact same time.

They catch one another’s gaze, giddy giggles bubbling out from their chests as they both lean forward, eyes fluttering closed and it happens. Akaashi’s lips, Tsukishima decides, are even softer than he imagined. He melts into their first kiss, sighing as he reaches for Akaashi’s hands so he can hold on to him and not float away into the night with how weightless he feels in this moment.

When they both pull away, they’re still close, breath mingling in the small space between them. Two grinning idiots who took a very long time to realize they were both hopelessly in love.

Tsukishima has no idea how long they stand like that. He used to think that no couple actually stared into each other’s eyes but, what he always found ridiculous, he now discovers is a very lovely thing.

“I’m going to have to find a new place to take you for coffee dates,” he says once he finds his voice again.

Akaashi gently shakes his head. “No, I like our place.”

Tsukishima likes the soft way he says “our place.” Our. He hopes there’s so many more places that will become “ours,” too. “Then I’ll have to find other new places to take you, then.”

“Oh, I think we have a lot of new things in our future, Tsukki.”

**Author's Note:**

> *screams in fake dating*  
> *continues screaming in akatsukki*
> 
> How was your November? Mine was djkfhsjkldhfjwhfio, so I thought we could all use some fluff. And what better way to serve that up than with coffee "dates" and fake dating? At a wedding! So self-indulgent. *happy sigh* Just what I needed when the weather's getting colder and the days are so much shorter.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I so appreciate every kudos, bookmark, and comment (and I always reply to comments, even if it takes me a while sometimes)!
> 
> You can find me on twitter, [@HeyMellieJellie](https://twitter.com/HeyMellieJellie).


End file.
